Immediately, she thought of Fraser. He’d go mad and probably rightly so if Chloe went off to Hannah behind his back with a stranger. Then again, the very fact that Drew was neutral might be the best thing. Fraser would be bound to kick off, and Hannah might feel ganged up on with both parents there. Drew didn’t even need to enter the house, he’d just be in the background for moral support, and perhaps, Chloe admitted, to offer an impartial perspective. He said he’d share the driving with her to Bristol. They could be there and back in a day and if her plan worked, she might be reunited with her daughter and granddaughter within a few hours.

The prospect was so wonderful, so enticing, that her stomach clenched in excitement, followed by dread at the alternative outcome: Hannah vowing to break off contact forever because of Chloe’s interference. She would have to tread very carefully.

Moments later, Fraser sent a WhatsApp saying that he’d heard more from Antonia and that Jordan had let slip that Hannah was still in the Bristol flat ‘as far as he knew’. Fraser added a few choice expletives and that he’d a mind to fly back to Bristol and bring Hannah home whether she liked it or not.

Chloe could have screamed in frustration. Hannah was twenty-two not thirteen; she made her own decisions. She messaged him back, warning him she’d never speak to him again if he did anything like that and, eventually, he agreed to leave things with her for a couple of days.

She threw the phone down

She had to do something now, before Fraser rushed in like a bull in a china shop or Jordan decided to go back to Hannah. She couldn’t bear the thought of Hannah being on her own, dumped by that little sod, not knowing where to turn or wanting to come home and not knowing how.

Drew was right. She needed to meet Hannah face to face and have one last try at getting through to her. But how could she possibly leave the festival with only two days to go?

Chapter Twenty-Five